Although the relationship between the Tang and Tubo became quite good since the first year of Kaiyuan, and there were envoys to communicate with each other, both sides knew that they would sooner or later have a battle.

Not only is the two heroes standing together, but it is also because the power layout of both sides is against each other's weaknesses. After Tubo annexed Qinghai, he always threatened the security of Longyou and used this as a bridge to compete for hegemony in the Western Regions.

As for the Tang Dynasty, it was even more excessive. The eastern region Xikang it occupied was only one step away from Tubo's royal city Lusa, and there was no dangerous obstacle in the middle. It can be said that the flag was directly planted in Tubo's yard.

Such a situation of border trouble can be said to be that any independent regime with a slightly stronger force cannot bear it, let alone that both sides are absolute overlords in their respective regions.

The key to maintaining a certain degree of restraint and tolerance at the moment is that both sides have their own difficulties. Tubo annexed Qinghai, but the actual control of Qinghai was the Gar family, a powerful minister who was in harmony with Zanpu. As for the Tang Dynasty, it was difficult to directly dispatch strong troops to ensure the safety of Xikang, so they could only deter troops in Longnan.

The Tang Dynasty's possession of Xikang was not endorsed by force, but was achieved by taking advantage of the interests of the upper-class Tubo people and the conflicts between the Tubo upper-class powers.

Because of this, when I heard the Tubo envoys proposed to attack the Six Divines of the Southern Barbarians by using Xikang, I didn’t think it was a simple false way to destroy Guo. Or even if Tubo wanted to take back Xikang from the Tang Dynasty, it was actually very simple. Just send troops to occupy it, because the Tang Dynasty did not send heavy troops to Xikang.

As for the Longnan garrison's symbolic significance in targeting the Tubo local area, the symbolic significance is greater than the actual military effect. It is not realistic to truly enter Xikang to fight against Tubo at present. The existence of the Longnan garrison is to suppress the Shengqiang tribes around the territory and provide flanking protection for the Nine Curves of the Yellow River.

Of course, this does not mean that the Tang Dynasty's investment, construction and interests in Xikang were completely unguaranteeed. As the trade ties between Xikang and the local Tang Dynasty became closer, the upper-class powerful people of Tubo would naturally endorse the interests of the Tang Dynasty.

For them, Tubo's territory is still incomplete and has little significance. However, the benefits that will be brought to them will be greater by establishing Xikang into a free trade port independent of the Zampu royal system.

Therefore, as long as the core contradictions of the upper-class rule of Tubo cannot be resolved, even if the troops were sent to forcefully take back Xikang, the Tang Dynasty would have various means to keep rebelling in this area, leaving the Tubo ruling center in turmoil for a long time.

Of course, if the Tubo Zamp had already had absolute strength in the middle of the country, he could naturally directly eliminate the powerful nobles in the middle of the country who only care about private plans and sell their country for profit, and the Tang Dynasty would find it difficult to make trouble in Xikang again. After all, in the face of absolute strength, any trick is a small trick.

But the problem is that there is no. Absolute strength itself is a concept of vain.

During the reign of Emperor Gaozong, the territory was at its peak. The Tang army fought east and west, and was invincible, but it turned out to be overturned by Tubo. Kaiyuan Tianbao can be said to have reached the peak of national strength during the feudal period, but it ended up in a prosperous era of civil strife.

This problem is the same in Tubo. Songtsen Gampo inherited the throne as a teenager, avenged his father, unified the plateau, and accomplished great achievements that he had never seen before. He was like a son of destiny. As a result, when he met the Tang army in Songzhou, he realized that there was a heaven beyond the sky.

There is also the most intuitive and important criterion to judge whether the Tubo Zanpu has the strength to control the big move, that is, whether the Gar family has been resolved, it is obvious that there is no one right now.

So when Tubo raised the false Tao Xikang, this question was very interesting.

Seeing that Li Tong was just silent, the Tubo envoy continued to say: "Although there were border affairs in our country and the Tang Dynasty in the past year, the ultimate fundamental reason was that the border ministers were greedy for merit. Zanpu was young and the Queen Mother assisted in government affairs, and never provoked the Tang Dynasty. Back then, she met Princess Chizun and betrothed His Majesty to enter the residence to strengthen her momentum. Now Zanpu was involved in the prime of his life, but she met a slave to provoke the king's power. The whole country was full of resentment, which was unbearable. So she thought of using the Tao and begged His Majesty to be able to be intimate with his feelings and tolerate this love!"

After hearing this, Li Tong smiled and said, "It is not easy to maintain the country in general. Since I was given the throne, I have also felt deeply. The old two countries did not have a harmonious relationship, but since the re-answering of the old friendship, your king has indeed not lost his diligence. Now I have made this request, both in terms of emotion and reason, and I should not refuse."

Hearing Li Tong's answer, the envoy of the foreign country was a little surprised at first, and a hint of joy flashed in his eyes after a moment.

But before the person could speak again, Li Tong said again: "The people of the Southern Barbarians are indeed unruly and need to be punished. In the early years, they had the evil of betraying Tang En, but because the Tang and Turkish regained their fate, I did not mind this small disease of scabies. Now they hate your country again, which shows that the thief is reborn and takes his own death. Since your king wants to conquer, I also have old anger that cannot be eliminated. In addition to the way, both countries will send strong troops to the south, and we will always abandon this evil barbarian in the southern border!"

"This...this matter is very important, not a small official can decide...this is just a humble person asking about the matters of the way, but the rest of the people have not..."

The Tubo envoy thought he had grasped some of the secrets of the subsequent military trends of the Tang Dynasty, but after hearing Li Tong's words, he was stunned. He couldn't figure out how true or false this statement was, and he was worried that he would backfire and became a little embarrassed and panicked for a moment.

After seeing the Tubo envoy like this, Li Tong had some understanding of some ideas and trends in the Tubo country.

It is not impossible for Tubo to use troops to Nanzhao. One is to test the bottom line of the Tang Dynasty for Xikang, and the other is to have meat on the legs of mosquitoes. Although the Six Divines of the Nanman are not in a state of chaos, it is a bit of oil and water to search. At least for Tubo, whose expansion has been stagnant for a long time, it is also a rare food to eat.

However, using troops in Nanzhao is definitely not the first choice for Tubo. If possible, Tubo still hopes to give priority to solving the Qinghai issue.

Hearing the hesitant voice of the messenger, Li Tong snorted coldly: "Nothing! Is your king and his minister used to making this atrocities without any end? Since the implementation of the Tang Dynasty's education, Xikang's people are now peaceful and harmonious, just like a Buddhist country on the ground. Your king's request made me feel sad. Regardless of the trouble of war and war, I should ask for a way to borrow the power and work harder. Since the humble officers are not enough to discuss major plans, how dare I disturb my heart!"

"The humble officer is rude and rude! Therefore, hesitation is hard to say, and it is only because of this. Although we know that the Tang army is powerful, if we try it one after another, we may be confused by the barbarian civilians and cannot warn us that our lord is majestic and difficult to offend..."

The Tubo envoy rebuked the words when he heard this and quickly spoke again. The topic was really about to suddenly touching his unexpected scope, which made him feel overwhelmed.

"This statement is even more narrow! I am afraid that my Tang army will be powerful and buried your country's deeds, so I refuse to go with you? The Southern Barbarians have committed the crime of betraying me and are harmonious with the Tang and Turkish people. I have not made any detailed explanations. Your master and servant have a plan to use the Tao, but they do not think about where the majesty of my Tang family is. This is the principle of harmony between the country and the neighbors?"

Li Tong slapped the table and shouted angrily, and continued to point at the Tubo envoy and said angrily: "If you don't borrow the Tao, it will be the Emperor Tang. Since your master and servant have such a fierce plan, you must have already planned to attack. In this way, I can still lend the road to Xikang to your country, but your country's strong minister Qinling repeatedly violated my Longbian, and I will also send troops to punish you, so your country cannot criticize you. If you talk about it, you will get along with each other. If your envoy is not enough to make any decisions, you don't have to lose your cleverness and return home to talk with senior officials and strong officials!"

After saying this, Li Tong ignored Na Fan's response and stood up directly from the table, then turned around and left the hall, leaving Na Fan's face dumbfounded.

A banquet where the Fan Envoy gave up his farewell parted in a bad mood. Although the Fan Envoy was scolded in the hall, after returning to Sifang Hall, he carefully sorted out a conversation in the hall and savored it. His originally nervous mood gradually stabilized, and at the end, he even showed a smile on his face.

"Although Emperor Tang spoke strongly, his words were contrary to his intentions! He knew it was difficult to stop our country from using the road, so he used difficult problems to intimidate and refused to speak deeply. The Tang State was large in nature and had many troubles from all directions. He had previously talked about martial arts and killed the generals of the Northern Hu and Uighurs, but although they were strong, they had a clumsy plan. He quickly sent a letter to return home, and then sent ministers to the Tang Dynasty to discuss. If the Tang State really used great martial arts in the north, this was a good opportunity for our country to deal with the chaos!"

While muttering, the Tubo envoy was writing at his desk, recording his guesses in detail, and sent his close associates out of Beijing in advance, quickly passing the news back to China.

At the same time, after seeing the Tubo envoy, Li Tong also attracted Guo Zhiyun and others who were about to leave Chang'an and return to Longyou, and ordered: "This time, when the military exercises, the foreigners will be in danger and will have the idea of ​​being a vigilant and will lose their composure. At present, the north is temporarily harassed to show weakness to promote their might and force their power to Qinghai.

Although Qinling is fierce and terrifying, if the foreign countries force it too much, its party members will be swaying. When the road is at a loss, it is a good opportunity to eliminate evil. At present, the court is not suitable to directly increase troops from Longyou, so in the first half of the journey, you generals and officials in the town need to concentrate on guarding, but seek no mistakes and not be eager for success. On the day of recovering Qinghai, the court will reward you with heavy rewards!”

In the past few years, the Tang Dynasty has been concentrating on resting and has no pioneering in border affairs, so the confrontation with Tubo and Qinling in Haixi has been in a stalemate, and they are tolerant of each other and have nothing to do.

Now to break this peace, Li Tong did not want the Tang Dynasty to take the initiative, but hoped that Tubo would attack first and then the Tang Dynasty would intervene strongly. In this way, it would be more conducive to the revenge of the Qiangs in Haixi and recover the entire Qinghai area in one fell swoop.

The Tang army in the Lishan Mountain martial arts was majestic, and of course it could not scare the fierce opponents like Tubo, but it could make the king and his ministers feel urgent and disrupt the rhythm of their big plans.

This panic may not be reflected in the short term, but as the strategic trend expands and accelerates, it can become an important factor affecting the outcome.

Just as Li Tong was giving face-to-face advice to the generals in Longxi, a team starting from the Xianyang Imperial Tomb was about to arrive in Chang'an City.
Chapter completed!